


Ride Home

by Eggling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, but technically it's a gen fic, you could technically read this as ben/polly and I had it in mind while writing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29756154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggling/pseuds/Eggling
Summary: The thing swung its enormous neck down as she spoke, bringing its head around to prod at her with its short, bristly trunk. The tip of it was wet, and she shuddered, wiping her sleeve on her hip. The motion left a long smear of something on the fleecy fabric, like the track left behind by a snail, and she grimaced, scrubbing harder at the spot until it had disappeared.On a ride back to the TARDIS, Polly finds herself a bit out of her comfort zone.
Kudos: 2





	Ride Home

**Author's Note:**

> on [tumblr](https://the--highlanders.tumblr.com/post/644368832966852608/ride-home).

Biting her lip, Polly stared up at the towering form of the creature before her. Its legs looked almost too spindly to hold its weight, ending in neat hooves that she might even have called dainty. There was something giraffe-like about it, in the great neck and swishing tail, but its back was too long and sloping, divided up by three humps. Saddles were nestled into the spaces between them, held in place by a dizzying array of straps and ropes and chains, and the ladders that swung down from them looked decidedly less than solid.

She threw a glance over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of the Doctor, and wrinkled her nose at his benevolent smile. “Are you sure about this?”

“Quite sure,” he replied, his voice as smooth and unworried as his expression. “They’re the best way to cross the swamp, you know.”

Privately, Polly wished they had been handed the keys to something more like a car instead, but she could not bring herself to say so aloud. It had been very kind of the village to lend them two beasts for the journey back to the TARDIS. And yet she still could not bring herself to reach out one hand to the ladder and begin the climb.

“Won’t they just be stuck out there?” she asked, scrambling around to find an excuse, some problem the Doctor had not yet thought of. The thing swung its enormous neck down as she spoke, bringing its head around to prod at her with its short, bristly trunk. The tip of it was wet, and she shuddered, wiping her sleeve on her hip. The motion left a long smear of _something_ on the fleecy fabric, like the track left behind by a snail, and she grimaced, scrubbing harder at the spot until it had disappeared. “I mean – we _will_ be leaving them behind when we get to the TARDIS, after all,” she added.

“Oh, I shouldn’t worry about that.” Wandering around her, the Doctor held his hand up to the other creature. He did not so much as flinch when it nosed at him, nor did he seem to mind the splotch of mucus left on his palm. “They’re very intelligent creatures, you know. They’ll be able to get home just fine.”

“Just think about the swamp, Pol,” Ben put in, grinning. “Dunno about you, but I don’t want to walk through there again.”

That was true enough, she supposed.

“I’ll ride in front,” Ben was saying. “If you’re too scared to.”

His words galled her into grasping the sides of the ladder, her hands sweaty against the scratchy surface of the rope – and once she had grabbed it, she could hardly step back and let go. “I’m not scared,” she declared, more for her own benefit than Ben’s. Had he done it on purpose? she wondered. Or was he just goading her, without really expecting her to take it to heart?

Either way, she was here now. Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself upward, stiffening when the ladder swung inwards to bump against the creature’s belly. She took the next step laboriously, still clinging to the ladder as if she was a thousand metres above the ground. The creature shifted from side to side impatiently, flicking its tail like it thought she was some pesky fly come to bother it, and she froze, half-expecting it to take off with her still clinging onto its side. But it stilled again, and she dragged herself onwards. It was much easier to grasp the wooden rungs, she found, and she edged upwards until she found herself high enough that the ladder was stabilised against the creature’s side. She reached towards the saddle with a huff of relief, catching hold of the metal loops that hung from its side and laying her forehead against the leather for a moment. But when she moved again, her slick palms slipped against the metal, and she blanched, leaning forward to slam her body into the creature’s side. She stayed pressed there for a long moment, feeling her breaths push in and out against those of the creature, but eventually the relief at having caught herself propelled her upwards, and she eased her leg over the top of the saddle.

“I’m alright,” she called down, then winced. She could only have been on the ladder for a few minutes, and most of that had been spent standing still. The creature’s back was hardly high enough to warrant her telling the others she was alright. But they seemed so small down there, and the tops of the twisted swamp trees so close.

“I’m glad,” the Doctor called back. “Ah – Ben, why don’t you go next?”

Ben had scaled the ladder and swung his leg over the creature's back almost before the words had finished leaving the Doctor’s mouth. He had been raring to go the whole time, Polly thought with a twinge of something that was most definitely not petulance. Trust Ben to throw himself into something like this while she looked down at the ground with an uneasy stomach.

“What’s the weather like up here?” he quipped, settling himself into the saddle behind her with a grin.

She tried to meet him smile for smile. “Wind’s a bit stronger.”

“Sure, sure.” He was fiddling with something, but she did not dare lean around for a better view. “Have you strapped yourself in yet?”

“I was just about to.” Twisting around to fasten the straps, she caught a glimpse of Jamie and the Doctor clambering onto their own creature. She was a little gratified to see that they were as tentative as she had been, the Doctor pushing Jamie up until he was all but thrown over the saddle before starting his own nervous climb. But they settled themselves in easily enough, and she leant towards them as subtly as she could to catch whatever the Doctor was telling Jamie.

“- this is only a little different,” he was saying. Only a little different from what? Polly wondered. Perched atop such an enormous creature on the edge of a twisted, gnarled alien swamp, she had never felt further from Earth. She could not imagine anything even remotely similar, even after all their travels. “Roll the rope up, like that, yes -” Fumbling to copy Jamie’s motions, Polly managed to roll the thing up alright – but then she was left holding it. She cast around one-handed for something to tie it up with, settling on a loose strap. Maybe she had been meant to tie herself down with that, she thought. Still, she felt secure enough. There could be no real harm in it.

A clatter of hooves on pebbles beside her made her glance up to see Jamie and the Doctor’s creature setting off at a brisk walk, loping away towards the swamp pools. The Doctor had clearly told Jamie something about getting the thing going, but whatever it had been, she had missed it in her distraction with the ladder. There were reins sitting in front of her, looped loosely around the lump on the front of the saddle, and she picked them up tentatively, holding them high against her chest. That was steering sorted, she supposed – but how to move forward? She gave a half-hearted kick at the creature’s sides, but if it felt the impact through the thick leather of the saddle, it did not show it. Setting her jaw, she kicked again, harder, and it simply tossed its head, long ears flickering.

“Hit its neck with the reins,” Ben put in. “That’s what the Doctor said.”

“I knew that,” she tossed back at him – but there was no real conviction in her voice, and she did as he said. The creature shivered at the impact, the saddles shaking as its skin rippled, and for a moment Polly was glad of the straps holding her in place. But it skipped forward into a walk, striding over to where the Doctor and Jamie’s creature stood waiting for them.

“Took ye long enough,” Jamie called over to them, grinning. He was enjoying this too, she thought bitterly. Only the Doctor seemed to share any of her discomfort, grasping tightly at the front of his saddle. “Come on!”

He slapped the reins against the creature’s neck, quickly, sharply, and it set off at a brisk trot, legs flicking out in front of it. Polly pressed her own creature on more slowly, watching in trepidation as Jamie’s mount threw itself chest-first into the closest swamp pool. The impact broke up the clumped algae stagnating on the surface, and threw black mud over Jamie and the Doctor, leaving dark spots on their sleeves. Wincing, Polly glanced down at her pink jumper – but the creatures’ legs were long enough that the mud only brushed the edge of the saddle flaps. Nudging her own creature forwards, she guided it into dipping down more carefully, sliding rather than plunging into the pool.

“I could’ve steered, Pol,” Ben called from behind her. “You didn’t have to do it.”

Polly twisted around to throw him a dirty look, but she teetered dangerously far to one side, the straps holding her in place going taut, and she threw herself back the other way, clutching white-knuckled at the reins. “I’m fine,” she replied through gritted teeth. Her heart was pounding after another near miss, and she was sure her voice would be unsteady, too, if she let it. “I just don’t want to get dirty, that’s all.”

“Come off it, duchess.” Ben did not sound particularly convinced. She tossed her head, trying to ignore him. “You’re nervous.”

“I’m not,” she protested – but their creature made a great leap forward just as the words left her mouth, pitching them backwards, and she grasped at its neck with a yelp. She did not have to turn around to feel the weight of Ben’s smug expression. “I’m not,” she said, more evenly this time. “Why would I be nervous?”

“Dunno. Just thought you might be, that’s all.”

Clambering out of the pool, their creature ambled over to stand beside the Doctor and Jamie’s mount. The pair of them stood there, huffing and twitching their trunks, each of them coated so thickly in mud up to their bellies that it entirely obscured their reddish coats. To Polly’s relief, the next stretch of terrain looked mostly dry, with only a few shallow puddles marring the expanse of moss that carpeted the ground.

Puddles that a creature as tall as this could surely stride over, if it was going fast enough.

Once again, she wondered if Ben’s needling was just to bother her, or if he really meant to encourage her. She was perched up ridiculously high, yes, and glancing down to the ground made her stomach flip over. But she was safely strapped in, and the creatures knew their way around the swamps. And if Jamie could ride the thing so easily, surely there was no reason why she should not be able to.

“I’ll race you,” she called over to Jamie, taking up her reins and readjusting her seat with all the restless energy of a jockey. Her creature snorted and stamped its foot, like it had sensed her change in demeanour. But Ben tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned around to see him frowning.

“Polly -” Now he was the one sounding nervous. Satisfaction flashed through her, though it was quickly tempered by guilt. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“They know where they’re going,” Polly reassured him, patting their creature’s neck. “Think about it this way, we’ll be back to the TARDIS sooner.” Twisting around, she shuffled the reins into one hand and clapped him on the shoulder with the other. “If you’re scared, you can always walk back.”

“Of course I’m not scared,” Ben scoffed.

“Good.” His mouth snapped shut, and she turned around again, drawing herself up a little higher.

Jamie had watched their banter with an air of amusement. “You’re sure?” he called over.

“Of course.”

He grinned at her, leaning forward in his saddle. “You’re on.”


End file.
